Uses for a Blackboard

We finally got around to making a blackboard recently and it's had a lot of use over the last couple of weeks. All we needed was a sturdy piece of MDF, some blackboard paint and some chalk. Actually, we've had all of that stuff in the garage since last Summer, but only just got around to using it.

Now that we have the blackboard, we are finding so many uses for it. The most obvious is simply drawing on it. We can lean it up against a wall to stand and draw, or we can lay it flat on the floor. One day I drew circles all over it in pink, green, blue and purple, while E coloured them in. I was saying "circle", for E's benefit, and she kept replying "round dot". I guess "circle" is a bit hard to say, although she did give it a good attempt when she was showing our picture to her Daddy later in the day.

Another use for our new blackboard is hopscotch. I drew squares and numbered them and wrote "HOME" at one end. I don't think E had ever played hopscotch before, but she soon got the hang of jumping from one number to the next. It's such a fun little game that we can now play indoors as well as out.

We have also used our blackboard as a train-track for little toy trains by simply drawing some tracks with a piece of chalk. This idea could be used for any kind of scenery. I'm thinking... draw a river for boats or ducks, or draw roads for little cars and buses. We could draw fences around little toy houses or to mark paddocks for farms or enclosures at a zoo.

We could use it to draw mazes to trace with a finger or for a toy to 'walk' through. I could write little reminders or inspirational quotes or verses or rhymes that we'd like to remember... Once E is a bit older, she can use it to work out math problems or practice writing, just like we did at school.

For now, we've left it out for E to draw on any way she pleases. She also enjoys using a water sprayer to clean it. :)

Does anyone else have unconventional uses for a blackboard?

-Polly